Kombucha Growing Instructions

What You Get in the Mail:

When you order a Kombusha Starter Scoby from Poseymom, you should get a single scoby, double bagged, heat sealed, shipped in a box, with a small amount of tea to keep the scoby alive and fresh in the mail.

It’s best to open your scoby and follow the instructions below as soon as possible. Or, if need be, you can keep the scoby in its packaging, kept in a cool place. The scoby can keep for up to three weeks–or longer in the fridge–but sooner is definitely better.

Growing Your First Batch of Tea

Supplies you’ll need:

Black tea, 10 standard-sized tea bags. (You can experiment with other teas, such as green tea, as long as the tea does not have any oils added. So Earl Grey is a no-no.)

Step One: Boil

Boil your water in a large pot. Add the tea bags to make the tea. After the tea has steeped for a while, remove the tea bags.

While the water is still hot, add the sugar and stir thoroughly. Then you must let the tea cool completely. Best to keep the pot covered while cooling, so you don’t get bugs.

Step Two: Add Scoby

Pour your cooled, sweetened tea into the one-gallon glass jar.

Cut open the double bags, carefully. Add the full contents we sent to you into the jar. Also add the vinegar.

Stir gently with your wooden spoon.

The Kombucha scoby may sink to the bottom, or it may float. Both are completely okay.

Step Three: Seal and Store

Cover your jar with the coffee filter or cloth, and stretch rubber band over the covering to keep it in place.

Store your jar in a dark place, where the temperature is about 72-80 degrees.

Important! Leave the scoby alone! Seriously, do not disturb the scoby. One little peak can actually impede the growth process and harm the scoby. Try not to move it around, and definitely do not stir it!

Through the side of the jar, you may see some of the following things. Do not be alarmed. They are all normal.

You may see:

Little floating things in the tea

A skin forming across the top, like mucus

Small bits on top, white or brown

This is NOT MOLD. Do not worry.

(And, by the way, why are you peaking? Don’t remove the cover, even a little, no matter how curious you are. Seriously, just leave the scoby alone.)

Eventually, the scoby will form into what looks like a thin pancake. At first, the scoby will be thinner, but it will grow stronger (and even make new copies of itself) with each batch.

In some instances, a second (baby) scoby may not form. The tea will still be fermented. The original (mother) scoby can be reused again and again for future batches.

Step Four: Taste Test

On the seventh day, it’s time to taste the tea and see how you like it!

Carefully remove the cover and insert a straw along the edge of the jar. Sip and taste. The tea will have a sweet and sour flavor.

If you like the taste of the tea as-is, you can move on to the next step.

If the tea tastes too sweet to you, you can recover the jar and let it sit for a few more days. The longer it sits, the more sour the tea will be. Some people have let their tea sit for up to 30 days, but we don’t recommend waiting beyond 10-12 days in total.

Step Five: Enjoy Your Tea!

When you feel the tea is to your liking, you simply pour out the remaining tea into a new container. Keep the tea in the fridge, and the longer the tea is in the fridge, the smoother the taste will be.

Optional: Make a secondary fermentation! Do this by sealing your tea in a bottle or jar and leave on the counter for about 3 more days. The tea will carbonate as it continues to ferment. When you decide to open your tea, do so over a sink, since it may fizz and spill over a little!

Your Next Batch

Once your tea is ready, you can save the scoby and jar, with a about two cups of tea, keep in a cool place until you’re ready to make more.

Once you’re ready to start a new batch, follow the same instructions as above, adding 2 cups of tea from your previous batch instead of the vinegar.

Over time, your scoby may produce a baby scoby, which can be used to make two batches at once instead of one. You can even share with a friend!

CAUTIONS!

Some individuals may be allergic to Kombucha tea. Drink only about 2 oz at first to test the tea to any allergic reaction. A few may suffer from stomach distress due to carbonation and fermentation in the tea. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should be aware that drinking very large amounts of the tea can affect the pH level of some bodily fluids and contain a small amount of caffeine and alcohol. Any doubts, please talk to a doctor!

16 Comments

H Davis
on August 3, 2017 at 10:58 am

Why is ;the scoby scummy or growing something like a fungus?

Jacob
on August 3, 2017 at 5:42 pm

That’s a very common concern, H Davis. In fact we’ll be doing a FAQ post soon about that. The short answer: 99.9% of the time, what looks like fungus or mold is really just just the kombucha growing normally.

Kombucha is a bacterial culture, and it often looks gross when growing. My advice, allow the tea to ferment undisturbed for the full seven days. Mold will be obvious by then, if it is mold.

Danny Doyle
on August 3, 2017 at 2:39 pm

Can you use a fermentation top? Like the ones with the gas release? Or does the scoby need the oxygen?

Jacob
on August 4, 2017 at 5:59 am

Hi Danny. In our experience a cloth or coffee filter works best. We’ve never used a fermentation top.

Danny
on August 4, 2017 at 11:27 am

I used a unbleached paper towel. Didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. I use the Sauer System tops for kimchi and sauerkraut, as well as pickling. Thanks for the response. Looking forward to my first kombucha batch!

Danny
on August 14, 2017 at 5:24 pm

I got some great results! Thank you so much! The skoby grew a strong, almost waxy top, is that normal? Everything seems fine.

Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, wonderful blog!

Jacob
on August 7, 2017 at 10:12 am

Thanks for the feedback, Kent! Some aspects of the site are still a little buggy, as we nail some things down. Should be looking better soon, though. 🙂

Jane patton
on August 9, 2017 at 2:18 pm

I am attempting to brew a second batch of kombucha with my new Scoby. The first batch grew mold on the top, definitely mold after ten days of brewing. So I dumped the batch, followed directions again with all clean everything and purified water. I used the same Scoby but no juice. Not a week later I am starting to see small round islands of mold again. I have brewed kombucha for eight years and have never had mold appear. Had to buy a new Scoby (from posey mom) after moving. I have no idea why the mold is forming. Do I need a different Scoby? Am using organic stash green tea and organic sugar. Very disappointed after a year without kombucha I can’t get this started.

Jacob
on August 11, 2017 at 10:19 am

Hi Jane. In our experience, mold doesn’t come from contamination. Instead, we find it comes from the PH levels of the tea. Did you add the full quarter cup of vinegar? Even with the starter fluid, vinegar is really necessary. Without the starter fluid, you may need as much as a full cup of vinegar.

Another thought: What water are you using? We have seen that R/O or purified water is not good for kombucha. Boiled water, or distilled water is best.

I hope that helps! Let us know how it turns out.

Jane patton
on August 11, 2017 at 11:01 am

Thank you for the reply. I will try again with a full cup of vinegar. I am boiling tap water to make tea and using distilled water for the remainder of the gallon.

H Davis
on August 11, 2017 at 11:33 am

So, add 1/4 cup vinegar to each batch to get rid of the mold?

Jacob
on August 11, 2017 at 2:31 pm

When you first get a starter scoby from us, you add 1/4 cup of vinegar along with the starter tea (included). For every batch after that, you can add 2 cups of the previous batch of tea. If you didn’t keep any of the old tea, you’ll have to add vinegar again. One cup of vinegar will probably work for you. Also, you’ll want to be SUPER sure what you’re seeing is mold. We grow hundreds of scobies a week and NEVER have mold. 99.9% of the time, when people see “mold” in their kombucha, it isn’t really mold at all. If you are SURE it is mold, adding the vinegar will keep the PH to a level that is inhospitable for mold to grow, preventing the problem. Hope that works for you!

Dylan
on August 11, 2017 at 11:12 am

Can you please provide more information about the “momma” and “baby” scoby? I’ve purchased your product and would rather the information came from you all as opposed to the www which has inconclusive information all over the place. PLEASE we need to know more about this living scoby!

Jacob
on August 11, 2017 at 2:39 pm

Hi Dylan. I understand the terminology can be a bit confusing sometimes. Sometimes (not all the time) the scoby you are using batch after batch may sometimes produce a thinner “child” scoby, usually on top of it, like a second layer. In that case, the original scoby is called a “mother” scoby and the new one is a “child.” This doesn’t always happen, but when it does, you can actually peel the “child” off and use it to make a second batch, now growing two batches at once, one with the “mother” and one with the “child”.

I know there is a lot of conflicting information out there about growing and using probiotic products. We don’t claim to have all the answers, but we know what works for us, after having grown and sold more than 50,000 scobies in our home over three years. Best wishes on growing your kombucha!

Just curious why you do not recommend filtered water. We have a cartridge filter that removes chlorine and organic stuff as well as heavy metals ( not an RO system). Do i need to bypass these basic filters for the water kefir?